Roaming around the news wires ...

courtgolf beat me to it this morning with his FanPost titled, "Tired of asterisk talk?" What we're referring to, of course, is the talk in some circles that perhaps the winner of this Open Championship should be saddled with an asterisk to denote that Tiger Woods wasn't there.

courtgolf ascribes this chatter to journalistic imcompetence. My guess is that it's more likely journalistic boredom. Meaning, the writers who are writing about the asterisk aren't doing so because they actually believe an asterisk would be appropriate, but because they are just trying to stir the pot (which might, itself, be a form a journalistic malpractice). I don't think anyone actually believes it, in other words.

But I could be wrong. I have to admit that I've made a point of not reading any articles about asterisks, because they are so annoying. Perhaps if I read a few, I'd be forced to conclude that some people are serious about it.

Whatever, any talk about asterisks is absurd. If there's an asterisk for this British Open winner, then there'll have to asterisks added to the names of the champions of every tournament Tiger Woods hasn't played during his career.

And what about the tournaments Tiger played, but didn't play well? If someone can suggest, "Tiger's not playing, the winner didn't have to beat Tiger, therefore the winner deserves an asterisk," then why doesn't "Tiger wasn't playing well, the winner didn't have to contend with Tiger, therefore the winner deserves an asterisk" carry just as much weight?

Woods has won "only" 27 percent of the PGA Tour events he's played, after all. Nearly three-quarters of the time, he loses.

If we're handing out asterisks, how about giving asterisks to everyone who won a PGA Tour event between about 1987 and 1996? There was no dominant player, after all. Those winners didn't have to beat Tiger or Tom Watson to win.

How about giving Jack Nicklaus a bunch of asterisks? In none of his major championship wins was Ben Hogan a major factor. How about giving Hogan some asterisks? Young Tom Morris didn't play one single major that Ben Hogan won!

The only asterisk that needs to be handed out is next to the byline of anyone who seriously proposes an asterisk for the British Open. And down at the bottom of the article, in little type, would appear this: *This writer is not very bright.

You don't have to be a low-ball hitter. You don't have to have a dozen different punch shots in your arsenal. You don't even have to enjoy links golf.

A golfer who has any of those attributes - or especially all three - might be better suited to a British Open golf course. But having any of those attributes isn't necessary to do well.

Tom Watson, for example, was a high-ball hitter; did not - by his own admission - have a lot of different shots to call on - and, at least in the beginning, hated links golf. Yet won five Open Championships. How? Just by being so ... damn ... good.

Golf World and Melanie Hauser of PGATour.com cover the same ground in two different articles about Watson's British Open success. Watson is coming up a lot this year because the last of his five Open wins happend at Royal Birkdale, in 1983.

He wasn't a noted manufacturer of shots, not a fan of the knockdown that cheats the breeze. Watson hit the ball high, which normally is no friend in the wind, but there was attitude to go with the altitude.

"I always hit it solid," he says in the matter-of-fact manner that is as much a part of his countenance as his gap-toothed smile. "I rarely mis-hit the ball."

 Hauser begins her article this way:

You want the truth?

There was a time when Tom Watson didn’t like links golf. Detested? Nah. More like disliked. Intensely.

And Golf World explains why:

His introduction to links golf was inauspicious, to say the least. He hit a drive off the first on the exact line his club caddie told him to take. "He said, 'Hit it right there,' and I hit it right where he told me," Watson recalls. "Couldn't find my ball. Looked for it and looked for it. I finally saw this little pot bunker, 40 yards off line from where I hit. Sure enough, it was in there. My very first shot at links golf. I said, 'This isn't golf. This is luck, or bad luck.' "

Watson won that year, but it was a while before he warmed up to links golf. I suppose if you keep winning on a links, you'll eventually start to enjoy links golf.

Despite winning two of the first three British Opens he entered, Watson still wasn't comfortable with links golf -- its pinball bounces, the limited value of a yardage book, even the way the shorter-than-U.S. standard flagsticks messed with his depth perception. "In particular, I didn't like St. Andrews," says Watson, who finished T-14 there in 1978. "I didn't care for all the blind shots and the bumps and such." Watson fared worse in 1979 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes, but within his T-26 finish came a revelation -- as sure as taking to warm beer and overcooked vegetables.

"I just gave myself a talking-to," Watson says. "I was really fighting myself mentally with this stuff. One particular hole at Lytham, a par 5, illuminated what had to be done on a links course. Play the bounce. The first day it played into a strong wind and I hit driver, 3-wood, 5-iron. Next day, downwind, I hit driver and then had 210 yards to the flagstick. It was an 8- or a 9-iron, and I hit the 9. Today, that's nothing. But in those days, you just didn't think about that [club] from that far away. But I hit the shot and judged it right."

What made Watson such a force at the Open Championship? Well, we should keep in mind that he was - by far - the best player in the world for much of the time during his run of Open victories. That's a good place to start.

But what many people don't remember about Watson - because since about 1986 he's been a mediocre, often even a poor, yips-afflicted putter - is that Watson was arguably, in his prime, the best putter of his time. Certainly the best big-game putter of the post-Nicklaus, pre-Tiger era. Combine his tee-to-green game - "I rarely mis-hit the ball" - with his putting prowess of that era, and you've got a guy who's going to be less bothered by and better able to handle everything links golf throws at a player.

Watson wasn't just a great putter back then, he was scarily aggressive - which surely helped on the slower Open Championship greens.

Here's Andy North:

"He was so bold, it was easier for him to get locked in on the speed than a lot of other guys," says close friend Andy North. "He hit his putts so solidly and was so aggressive, [those greens] fit his putting stroke beautifully."

And Jerry Pate:

"I never saw anyone hole putts like that. Tiger's putts, and Ben Crenshaw's, they go in like a rat sneaking in a hole at a carnival. They hit softer putts, and the hole just kind of swallows the ball. Tom's would be going 900 miles an hour. Often they would hit the back of the cup and pop up in the air a little and then go in."

Hauser's article is sort of the Cliffs Notes version. The full Golf World article is well worth the read.

The R&A has the Open Championship pairings out. The full list is here. The group that jumps out at me is this one:

Colin Montgomerie, Boo Weekley, Mike Weir

Pretty cheeky of the R&A to put Monty and Boo together. Can you imagine two more disparate personalities? I wonder if they'll do much chatting ... And Weir, well, Weir can get along with anyone. Put him in a pairing with Tiger Hatfield and Phil McCoy and he'll still be just fine.

Some other pairings that seem promising:

• Justin Rose, Tom Watson, Aaron Baddeley
• Geoff Ogilvy, Oliver Wilson, Davis Love III
• Padraig Harrington, Retief Goosen, Justin Leonard
• Martin Kaymer, Scott Verplank, Ernie Els
• Phil Mickelson, Hideto Tanihara, Paul Casey
• Nick Dougherty, Jim Furyk, Camilo Villegas
• Robert Karlsson, Greg Norman, Woody Austin
• Sergio Garcia, Ryuji Imada, Sean O'Hair

Kenny Perry's decision not to play the British Open - following on the heels of his earlier decision to skip U.S. Open qualifying - is drawing some criticism from a few of his peers:

Countryman Jim Furyk, who will likely be a team-mate of Perry in the US team for Valhalla, said he could not understand Perry's decision.

"To the best of my knowledge you can't win if you never play." he said. "You can't win on the couch.

"From a personal standpoint I'd have a very difficult time staying home when I had the opportunity to play in a major championship.

"He also made a decision not to play in the US Open and you would think that Torrey Pines would be right down his alley.

"But he says he never plays well there, doesn't like the course and decided not to."

Guess what, Jim: Perry says he never plays well in the British Open and doesn't like links courses, either. Or more to the point, doesn't like (British) links course weather. Windy, chilly, damp? Not for Kenny:

Perry, who has played only four Opens since his debut 17 years ago, has said he has no regrets over his no-show decision.

"I played Birkdale in '91, missed the cut there. My stroke average at the British Open is 76 point whatever," the world No. 16 said.

"I'm not good when it gets to 40 and 50 degrees (Fahrenheit) and 50 mile an hour winds. I'm a hot weather guy."

But Kenny's wrong about his British Open record.

Perry has played the British Open only five times in his career, in 1991, then not again until 2003. Then he played in '04, '05 and '06.

Perry makes it sound like he's stunk up the joint when he has played the Open Championship. And two of his five trips did result in missed cuts. But the other three were finishes of 8th, 11th and 16th. And his scoring average is nowhere near "76 point whatever":

• 2006: 73-74, mc
• 2005: 71-71-68-72, t11
• 2004: 69-70-73-72, t16
• 2003: 74-70-70-73, t8
• 1991: 73-76, mc

Does Perry really have the impression that his play in the British Open has been so poor? Or was he exaggerating for effect?

Hmmmm. I can't criticize Perry for playing the schedule that he wants to play (and it's hard to argue with that schedule when it's produced three wins in five weeks). That's his business (literally and figuratively). And nobody - including Kenny Perry - could have foreseen six or seven weeks ago, when he was making decisions about his schedule, that he'd be so hot right now.

But Justin Rose doesn't feel any compunction about criticizing Perry's decision:

"He's arguably the best player in the world right now (with Tiger Woods out injured) and I find it amazing he's not here," he said.

"His priority was obviously the Ryder Cup, but that's clearly signed, sealed and delivered, so this is a trip that wouldn't hurt his prospects.

"So it's strange. I couldn't imagine opting out of majors - it's what I want to judge myself on by the end of my career."

That's the one thing I wonder about with Perry's decision: Will Kenny look back on this period some day and say to himself, "What was I thinking?" He's 48 years old. He has 12 career victories. Perhaps he'll get another win or two (this season or before hitting the Champions Tour). But almost certainly, he'll never again have as good a chance as he does now at winning that major he hasn't won yet. And if Perry won a major, he'd get some Hall of Fame votes down the road. Without a major, none.

Final qualifying for the Open Championship is taking place today in England and in Michigan. The English qualifier - at Sunningdale - produced the following qualifiers for the British Open, which begins July 17:

Simon Wakefield, 133
Ariel Canete, 133
Johan Edfors, 134
Jean-Baptiste Gonnet, 134
Ross Fisher, 134
Gregory Bourdy, 134
Paul Waring, 135
Thomas Aiken, 135
Alexander Noren, 135
Pelle Edberg, 135
Anthony Wall, 135
Jose-Filipe Lima, 135
David Horsey, 135
Martin Wiegele, 135
Phillip Archer, 135
Steve Webster, 135
Peter Baker, 136
Simon Dyson, 136
Full Scores

The final two - Baker and Dyson - made it through a 6-man playoff. Jose Maria Olazabal was in that playoff and did not make it through. Others failing to qualify included Rory McIlroy, Charl Schwartzel, Jeev Milkha Singh, Peter Hedblom, Paul McGinley, Per-Ulrik Johansson, David Frost, Phillip Price, Mikko Ilonen, Jarmo Sandelin and Darren Clarke.

Updates later with the American qualifier results ...

Update: More results. There were two qualifiers in Michigan, one at TPC Michigan and one at Dearborn Country Club.

Dearborn Qualifiers
Paul Goydos, 131
Michael Letzig, 133
Doug Labelle, 134
Rich Beem, 135
Craig Barlow, 135
Kevin Stadler, 135
Davis Love III, 135
Full Scores

TPC Michigan Qualifiers
Jeff Overton, 130
John Rollins, 136
Tim Petrovic, 137
Matt Kuchar, 137
Alex Cejka, 137
Scott McCarron, 138
Thomas Gillis, 139
Full Scores